Getting Started
Your Content
Customization
Configuration
GitBook allows you to customize your book using a flexible configuration. These options are specified in a book.json file. For authors unfamiliar with the JSON syntax, you can validate the syntax using tools such as JSONlint.
General Settings
| Variable | Description |
|---|---|
root |
Path to the root folder containing all the book's files, except book.json |
structure |
To specify paths for Readme, Summary, Glossary etc. See Structure paragraph. |
title |
Title of your book, default value is extracted from the README. On GitBook.com this field is pre-filled. |
description |
Description of your book, default value is extracted from the README. On GitBook.com this field is pre-filled. |
author |
Name of the author. On GitBook.com this field is pre-filled. |
isbn |
ISBN of the book |
language |
ISO code of the book's language, default value is en |
direction |
Text's direction. Can be rtl or ltr, the default value depends on the value of language |
gitbook |
Version of GitBook that should be used. Uses the SemVer specification and accepts conditions like ">= 3.0.0" |
Plugins
Plugins and their configurations are specified in the book.json. See the plugins section for more details.
Since version 3.0.0, GitBook can use themes. See the theming section for more details.
| Variable | Description |
|---|---|
plugins |
List of plugins to load |
pluginsConfig |
Configuration for plugins |
Structure
In addition to the root variable, you can tell Gitbook the name of the files for Readme, Summary, Glossary, Languages (instead of using the default names such as README.md).
These files must be at the root of your book (or the root of every language book). Paths such as dir/MY_README.md are not accepted.
| Variable | Description |
|---|---|
structure.readme |
Readme file name (defaults to README.md) |
structure.summary |
Summary file name (defaults to SUMMARY.md) |
structure.glossary |
Glossary file name (defaults to GLOSSARY.md) |
structure.languages |
Languages file name (defaults to LANGS.md) |
PDF Options
PDF Output can be customized using a set of options in the book.json:
| Variable | Description |
|---|---|
pdf.pageNumbers |
Add page numbers to the bottom of every page (default is true) |
pdf.fontSize |
Base font size (default is 12) |
pdf.fontFamily |
Base font family (default is Arial) |
pdf.paperSize |
Paper size, options are 'a0', 'a1', 'a2', 'a3', 'a4', 'a5', 'a6', 'b0', 'b1', 'b2', 'b3', 'b4', 'b5', 'b6', 'legal', 'letter' (default is a4) |
pdf.margin.top |
Top margin (default is 56) |
pdf.margin.bottom |
Bottom margin (default is 56) |
pdf.margin.right |
Right margin (default is 62) |
pdf.margin.left |
Left margin (default is 62) |